The Mérida International Classical Theatre Festival is the oldest classical theatre festival held in Spain and is considered the most important of its kind.
Performances of the festival’s plays take place annually during the months of July and August in the Roman Theatre of Mérida, considered one of the buildings in the world that best represents the solid styles and harmonious forms of Roman architecture during the time of Emperor Augustus. It is also the oldest functioning theatre in the world.
A total of 70 editions of the festival have been held, each attracting tens of thousands of spectators, making it one of the leading theatre festivals in Spain.
The Festival began in 1933 with the staging of Seneca’s Medea, in a version by Miguel de Unamuno starring actress Margarita Xirgu. After another edition in 1934, due to the political tension in Spain, it was suspended until 19 years later, in 1953, when it restarted with a performance of the play Phaedra by a university theater company.
In 1954, professional theater returned to Mérida with a performance of Sophocles’ Oedipus performed by Francisco Rabal. Since then, the festival has been held uninterruptedly, hosting performances of the greatest works of Greco-Roman Classical Theater on its two-thousand-year-old stages.
Jesús Cimarro, with his company Pentación Espectáculos, has directed and managed the festival since 2012. The Regional Government of Extremadura awarded the management of the Festival to Pentación Espectáculos through a public competition from 2016 to 2024.
Between the 58th and 70th editions, the festival has recovered its local audience and consolidated its attendance from the rest of Spain, making the summer event one of the three most important and influential cultural events of the summer, according to the national press.
It has been 91 years since actress Margarita Xirgu continued a work she had begun more than 20 centuries ago: performing the great Greek and Roman comedies and tragedies on these ancient stones, an honorary witness to the history of the Performing Arts.
The most prestigious national and international theater professionals—actors, actresses, musicians, directors, authors, lighting designers, and costume designers—have paraded across its arena throughout its 70 editions, becoming part of history.